We finally have a new release of Warzone 2100, based on the famous "git master" branch. This has been four years in the making, and represents some quite large changes under the hood (and some noticeable changes above the hood as well).

Don't forget, if you play the campaign, we strongly encourage you do download the videos as well!They tell more about the story, and have more information about some campaigns.Get the campaign videos from here Campaign Videos

We have changed out release procedure a bit in order to get releases out faster. We now make releases straight off the master branch, rather than branching off a stable branch from which we make releases. This might result in some oddities in this first beta. Please report anything that looks amiss.

This release has a few changes to balance. Some of the changes that have been tested in git master have been included, as they were not deemed ready for release. The changes that were tested and found not quite ready yet include changes to starting power, derrick and power generator costs, and the much discussed 100% direct fire accuracy change.

The following are the most noticeable changes in this release compared to the previous:

Easy difficulty and insane difficulty AIs now get a different amount of power than human players do. If you do not like cheating and/or handicapped AIs, do not use easy and insane AI difficulties.

Counterbattery sensors now use a different algorithm for finding targets, whose range should be more predictable. You can also use allied counterbattery sensors.

Transport droids no longer have weapons. This is because the amount of hitpoints they needed to be reliable meant that in some cases they were overpowered as attack units on their own.

There is no longer any distinction between short and long range for accuracy purposes. The new accuracy stat is the average of the two. This is because both the existence of this difference and when it would take effect was impossible to learn from the game itself.

The game now has ECM jammers enabled. This is a counter-radar which hides your units from long-range detection. It is visualized by rendering affected buildings and droids partially transparent. The enemy needs to be closer than normal to them in order to be able to see them.

There are some notable user interface changes in this release. Most of them you can read about in the changelog above.

The new default map team setups for (some) maps can be surprising, and is a work in progress. Please give us feedback on how this feels once you have had some time to get play around with it. We think it makes setting up new games slightly easier, and should give a good hint on how to structure fair teams. To add support for this in your own maps, add a file called "<map name>.json" alongside your "<map name>.gam" file. Look at existing map json files to see how you should structure it (eg look at 8c-bananas).

There is now an option to build and design obsolete droids.

Some key defaults have changed. These can be changed back to their old values in the keymap user-interface.

Two sets of secondary orders that were not working properly or had functionality duplicated by primary orders have been removed. Missing (and missed) functionality expressed by these orders may make a return later in another form. What is needed to do that is a clear idea and description of the new orders should do.

This release has a huge amount of changes related to modding the game in various ways, including scripting, graphics and map-making. It is going to be hard to summarize this, so I am just to point out a few things and hope to make some follow-up posts about other things later.

Graphics: The rendering performance for models should be significantly improved in this release, as models are now fully drawn on the GPU. All propulsion models can now have standing still and moving animations. Each model (actually each model mesh level) can now be modified with its own shader program, making a lot of new and interesting changes possible.

Scripting: A whole new world of possibilities now exist in terms of scripting. You can for example dynamically change the sky texture, change droid limits on the fly, move the camera around, and change some parts of the UI, just to mention a few.

Modding: Almost all savegame data and stats are now in the JSON format. This is more descriptive, easier to change, and easier to debug. Both textures and model files are now loaded by the game as needed, this means you no longer have to mention them in resource files (the .wrf files) in order to make them load. This should save some annoying work when making mods.

"Transport droids no longer have weapons. This is because the amount of hitpoints they needed to be reliable meant that in some cases they were overpowered as attack units on their own." - Can you just set a limit on how many can be built? Or reduce the power of the gun? I think it should always be armed with something to shoot with, anything will do.

"models are now fully drawn on the GPU" - and if someone does not have a GPU does it mean just back to CPU rendering? Good though. How much improved? How has it been measured? Brings new cool things possible which I like. Will have to make some tests

The changes that were tested and found not quite ready yet include changes to starting power, derrick and power generator costs

The costs for derrick power was the most important change for me. An absolutely new way to play. It would be the end of the boring NTW-maps with 6² + 4 oils/ base. I am very disappointed. But that doesn`t mean, that your guys made not a great job. I hope, you will find a way for this change. What was the problem? The AI?

In case the WZ-game ends in a draw , the game winner will be determined by penalty shoot-out.

I'm not happy about the transport change but rest is ok. Reason is I have to ask who made the choice? I mean was their any checking with the community or was it just: we have this problem and I will fix it this way alone. Any voting options then I'd at least be okay with things like this. Just seems very sudden like we are all going this direction

Tzeentch wrote:I'm not happy about the transport change but rest is ok. Reason is I have to ask who made the choice? I mean was their any checking with the community or was it just: we have this problem and I will fix it this way alone. Any voting options then I'd at least be okay with things like this. Just seems very sudden like we are all going this direction

We had a discussion about the transporters 3 or 4 years ago. I cant find it now in the search function. The problem was, you can cheat with the transporter mg, flying over the enemy base and firing endless without reload. Most of us didnt want the mg.

In case the WZ-game ends in a draw , the game winner will be determined by penalty shoot-out.

Internet polls are a terrible way to make decisions about anything. Example: the British research ship which did NOT get named Boaty McBoatface despite that being the clear winner in internet voting.

As for 'the community', this typically refers to the small but vocal minority of WZ players (check the downloads stats) who usually play a dumbed-down version of the game. No offense intended, but not the most useful data point.

Warzone evolves over time, hopefully without losing the character that has kept people playing for so many years. The armed transports were an experiment.

montetank wrote:The costs for derrick power was the most important change for me. An absolutely new way to play. It would be the end of the boring NTW-maps with 6² + 4 oils/ base. I am very disappointed. But that doesn`t mean, that your guys made not a great job. I hope, you will find a way for this change. What was the problem? The AI?

The AI should work, for the most part. That was the easy problem to solve. The bigger problem was a lack of playtesting and balancing. I made those changes pretty much by imagining numbers in my head and playing a bit against the AI. The plan was that people would test it while it was in git master and give feedback. I never saw any feedback on it, so I have no idea if anyone did test it.

I would encourage you to make a mod with these changes, and playtest it with friends. Then we can add it back with some more confidence later on. I still think they are good changes. Perhaps they just need some more ways to save you from shooting your foot off by ending up with neither power nor any means to generate power early on because you screwed up your build order a bit. Maybe if you would always start with one oil derrick built, and derricks would give you a tiny bit of income even without a generator, that would be enough.

Per wrote:The AI should work, for the most part. That was the easy problem to solve. The bigger problem was a lack of playtesting and balancing. I made those changes pretty much by imagining numbers in my head and playing a bit against the AI. The plan was that people would test it while it was in git master and give feedback. I never saw any feedback on it, so I have no idea if anyone did test it.

Ooh-i made some vids and posted it here. As an example, how a game could look like in the future with this derrick idea. I played and tested very much games with this idea. viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12093

In case the WZ-game ends in a draw , the game winner will be determined by penalty shoot-out.